Fascinating Portraits from “Forgotten” Staten Island in the 1980s

After a spike in New York City rent, photographer Christine Osinski and her husband were displaced from their loft and in search of a new home. She wound up in Staten Island — New York’s “forgotten borough.”

The middle-class, suburban vibe was familiar to Osinski, who hailed from Chicago’s South Side. Yet, having just moved from the city, Staten Island felt almost exotic and slightly surreal. She explored her fascination with the neighborhood people and landscape in a series of black-and-white portraits, which we first spotted on Slate, shooting hundreds of images throughout the 1980s.

One of the photos is currently on view in a group show at the Sasha Wolf Gallery, where Osinski will also celebrate her first solo exhibition in September. Click through for a preview of Osinski’s Staten Island series.